


Legends

by shayera



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Family, Ficlet, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-25
Updated: 2009-07-25
Packaged: 2017-10-03 16:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shayera/pseuds/shayera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ficlet for the prompt "shadow". Some shadows cannot be outrun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legends

Ace spent his life dodging his father's shadow.

He remembers the first time he pulled Garp's sleeve and shyly asked about his dead father – and he remembers the chill he felt when his grandfather frowned and told him alright, he could know, but he mustn't tell _anyone_, or bad things would happen.

His father was... different. Other kids had fathers who were carpenters, or farmers, or even pirates, but no one else had a father who was a _legend_.

He remembers wondering what that meant.

As he grew, he realized that his father wasn't dead after all. Legends couldn't die, but became more alive every time a story about them was told. Sometimes it was unbearable, to have a father who was always present, but never there. Once, he asked the adults what was so special about the Pirate King anyway, but the only reply he got was more tall tales.

Eventually he understood that the shadow of his father's legend was much larger than Ace himself could ever be. Large enough to drown in if anyone ever found out. Whether he'd be killed or worshipped, everything that was him, Ace, would be insignificant behind such a humongous shadow. He started to despise his father for it.

So he told no one, and stayed far away from his father's shade. Eventually, he found a new father, alive and strong and proud of him for who he was, no questions asked about his heritage. It was a good life, and it was his own.

Even now – even when he is beaten and chained and about to be executed – he believes that it has been his own life, and will be his own death. On some level, it makes the pain possible to bear.

And yet, some shadows cannot be outrun.


End file.
